Just curious. Has anyone here ever tried one of those crazy-expensive burgers that have gold trimmings, foie gras, or is made up of wagyu beef?

That sounds uncannily like my boyfriend's burger mix. Put the mince in a bowl. Add breadcrumbs, garlic, diced onion and chilis, chili powder (he's a spice demon), black pepper and herbs (I forget what herbs exactly, I'll have to get back to you on that one) and mix. Separate out into patties, leave to chill for 30 minutes and grill.

His "heart bypass" version of this is to add a few slices of cheese to the centre of the patties, then fry up the burgers with eggs.

The secret is in the powders, which for recipe I actually mix myself, when seasoning the meat.

I take kosher salt, dried garlic, dried onion, coarse ground pepper, paprika and dried red peppers, throw them in a blender and hit frappe. This gets worked into the ground beef or buffalo to make sure it's in every corner of the mixing bowl I use. Once it's well seasoned, I make about quarter to half pound patties working them out from the center and, if you want to make then extra juicy on the grill, a put slice of butter in the center of the patty.

Grill over medium for about 20 minutes turning about halfway through, drop the cheese on it while it's on its last 30 seconds or so on the grill and enjoy on your favorite bun with all the fixins you put on your burgers. My personal favorite is potato bun with lettuce, tomato and sauteed onions dressed with A1 steak sauce.

As for burger joints, most of you know I readily despise fast food but In-N-Out has always held a special place in my hardening heart for many years. It's about the only fast food joint I'll eat at besides Denny's. But Denny's is that "late Saturday night" option around here since it's the only restaurant that's open at 3 am when you're stumbling out of the bars after last call and we've already finished the reserve liquor.

Since when does making a basic burger constitute snobbery?

I'm not really much of a meat person so I don't have too much preference over where burgers come from. I like In-N-Out, especially to stop during long drives, but when I'm really craving a good burger, there's no satisfaction like other just getting a fat juicy burger from a non-franchise mom and pop shop type place. (Depends on the family, but the ones I've found by word of mouth around San Luis Obispo and my hometown near LA have been fairly good)

I usually don't make my own burgers since I'm not picky about them to begin with. I like my mom's stewed burger steaks though. I know it's not technically a burger at that point, but it's rather good. The sauce is a combination of flavors with the grease from the meat, Worcestershire sauce, ketchup, soy sauce, shiitake mushrooms, sake, and something else (I haven't figured the whole recipe out yet). If mom's on a diet she does the same thing but with bird meat + tofu instead of a mix between pork/beef.

Red Robin has decent burgers.

A little over-priced, but decent in flavor. I can usually only eat half of a burger in any one sitting, though, so it's like I'm paying for two meals.

If anyone lives in or is going to Seattle and hasnt been to Lunchbox Laboratory, you NEED TO GO! This place, although it only has 2 tables, has some of the best looking burgers ive ever seen in my life. They are pretty ridiculous in almost every way possible, e.g. if you order bacon they give you 7 pieces of it.

Not sure if its the best tasting burger ive ever had, but the options are almost endless, and they even pair your salt for your fries/tots to go with whats on your burger! They also have "dork meat", half pork half duck as well as a half turkey half chicken burger.

I'll attach a few pictures but you can see more here:

Lunchbox Laboratory - a set on Flickr

My favorite place for Burgers is Mcdonalds & Burger King! I like MickyD's for its Quarter Pounder . Crap I don't even mind getting their burgers that are only for a dollar.

And BK is good at the whoppers their was even this one burger that was new when that new Star Trek was in Theater (Forgot the name of it)

I suppose to make a good burger it requires the right mixture of lean and fatty hamburger so when it cooks it has the right level of juiciness and taste. How you cook the hamburger is also important in this sense as you need to find that ideal balance between being too well done and too rare. The bread/bun is always important as well in that it needs to have the right texture and fluffiness/chewiness to compliment the burger. A good, perhaps maybe unexpected, cheese always makes or breaks a burger as well. One of the better burgers I can recall had provolone and some other strange cheese instead of the typical American cheese. You can seldom go wrong experimenting in this area. Aside from that to really make the burger stand out I feel you need some condiments and perhaps a few secret spices thrown in. Chili-burgers have always been a favorite of mine but I'm sure there are many other wonderful things you can throw on this versatile food.

There used to be a really good restaurant called the Texas Hamburger Factory where I live that had an excellent Hickory Cheese Burger that was to die for. I forgot the restaurant that put all the Italian cheeses and spices on the burger but that was also fabulous. A few others whose names I can't recall, mostly small mom & pop restaurants, used wonderful tasting spices in their burgers. A local restaurant called the Villiage Grill makes a good simple burger that I always enjoy as well. I can't really think of any fast food establishments that I enjoy burgers from, but I suppose the ones at IHOP and Sonic are decent.

The worst burgers I have ever tried are from this place called the Landmark Grill where they squirt this fake smoke flavor liquid all over the burgers when they cook them. I've also had a few that used WAY TOO MUCH lean meat and literally flaked apart as I ate them because they were so dry.

I find that breweries with restaurants tend to make the best burgers. My favorite is the Ram, though I'm not sure if the chain exists outside the Pudget Sound area.

My fav is In-N-Out. i have friends from other states wanting me to overnight them a double double. . . dont think thats healthy though. . .

sold

But no, seriously... Some of those burgers Those monsters look delicious.

Would it be sheer heresy for me to post a veggie burger recipe? This thread is decidedly meaty...

Most of my favorite places are largely Oklahoma only so they probably won't mean much to most of you but here goes. Lotta Burger, Braum's, Sonic and Ron's all make excellent burgers. With Lotta Burger being about the best standard burger around and Ron's having an excellent halve sausage half hamburger with 8 ounces of in house chili poured over it.

My personal recipe requires getting 70/30 ground chuck and adding minced garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, dice grilled onions and chili powder into the meat. Then you cook it in a pan so it basically fries in it's own fat. Serve with some more grilled onions and Bleu cheese.

I'd rate Whattaburger and Burger King as some of the worst out there.

Burgers is very delicious and my favourite food.I like to make it at home with the help of my mom.There are some necessary things which require I bought from the grocery shop.I like to eat burger at McDonalds.I always go there for eat burgers and there are also some nice restaurants where we can eat but this one is my favourite.I have no experience for bad burgers at any where because I always go there for eat burgers.

I'm weird about homemade burgers, they have to be just right or else the texture kills me. Unless it's cooked on a grill in which case it's awesome. I usually use ground chuck but angus is great once in a blue moon. I like a little worcestershire, salt, garlic, and chili sauce in mine.

McDonald's burgers taste incredibly bland to me, they're probably my least favorite fast food burgers. Burger King's are better, and Hardee's are pretty good. I don't really do fast food a lot though.

I wouldn't eat that

Would you eat it if it were ground up and made into Doritos?

This isn't even hedonism, this is just pure gluttony.

No wonder brown people think you're all sorts of fucked up.

Obesity now officially costs the NHS more than smoking.

I'm looking forward to fat people being banned from pubs the same way smoking was.

Maybe they should make the doors a bit tighter so those 40-stone motherfuckers will know they're not allowed.